Industry giants endorse LEAGUE in $25M Series A

OMERS Ventures leads syndicate, funding digital alternative to traditional health insurance

TORONTO, June 14, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, LEAGUE, a new digital health insurance platform, announced it has raised $25M USD in Series A financing, led by OMERS Ventures. The team of powerhouse investors also includes financing from RIM founders Mike Lazaridis' and Doug Fregin's Infinite Potential Technologies, Real Ventures, BDC IT Venture Fund, and strategic investors RBC, Manulife and Power Financial Corporation.

Founded by serial entrepreneur and Kobo creator Michael Serbinis, LEAGUE plans to aggressively expand its product offering and geographic reach, ultimately redefining how people manage their health on a daily basis. This venture creates a syndicate of investors that provides the financial and strategic backing for LEAGUE to pursue the $100 billion+ market opportunity for health insurance in North America.

"We started LEAGUE to transform the consumer healthcare experience and today we are doing that by redefining health insurance with a digital platform that puts the consumer first, and lowers costs for employers with digital payments," said Michael Serbinis, founder and CEO of LEAGUE. "We are thrilled to have the support of our new and existing investors to build the team and product we need to accelerate our growth."

The financing follows the company's successful launches in Toronto, Vancouver, and Seattle in 2015.  LEAGUE fills a significant void for employers by offering Health Spending Accounts, Wellness Accounts, and Group Insurance Plans delivered through a mobile-first platform that provides an exceptional consumer experience never before seen in the industry.

"LEAGUE is revolutionizing how employers and employees interact with their benefits, leveraging technology to deliver a differentiated and affordable offering to small and medium-sized businesses across North America," said Sid Paquette, managing director, OMERS Ventures. "OMERS has had a longstanding relationship with Michael and the team at LEAGUE since day one, and we are proud to be a part of this next phase of their incredible journey."

Visit LEAGUE.com or download the app on your smartphone for more information. 

About LEAGUE
LEAGUE is the new digital alternative to traditional health insurance that connects employers and employees to a comprehensive network of health services and benefits, giving them choice, convenience and value. LEAGUE empowers people to Be Better® every day. Follow LEAGUE on Twitter @JoinLEAGUE or visit www.league.com.

About OMERS Ventures
OMERS Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $77 billion in net assets. OMERS Ventures is a multi-stage investor in growth-oriented, disruptive technology companies across North America. We seek like-minded partners with a shared vision of building a vibrant and successful knowledge economy.

About Infinite Potential Technologies
Infinite Potential selectively invests in and supports experienced operators and world-class researchers to build transformative businesses and products for global markets based on new and compelling technologies.

About Real Ventures
Real Ventures invests in ambitious entrepreneurs that are creating the Internet experiences of the future or embracing the power of the Internet to disrupt existing industries or business models. Its team and networks support entrepreneurs and propel their companies forward. The best entrepreneurs do their homework on prospective VCs and the best Canadian entrepreneurs want to be backed by Real Ventures. Visit realventures.com for more information.

About BDC IT Venture Fund
The BDC IT Venture Fund manages over $300 million with offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary, with strong links to Silicon Valley. The investment focus is on early stage, high growth companies with passionate and visionary entrepreneurs in the Enterprise, Internet and Mobile sectors. The fund has invested in many successful companies including Radian6, Bycast, Q1 Labs and Layer 7.  The IT Venture Fund is part of BDC Capital, which has more than $1.4 billion under management and more than 25 years of investing experience in IT, health and energy/clean technology companies, as well as venture funds. Find out more at www.bdc.ca/vcitfund or follow us on Twitter @BDC_Capital.

About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 37 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.‎

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. Follow Manulife on Twitter @ManulifeNews or visit www.manulife.com or www.johnhancock.com.

About Power Financial Corporation
Power Financial Corporation is a diversified management and holding company that has interests, directly or indirectly, in companies in the financial services sector in Canada, the United States and Europe. It also has diversified investments in industrial companies based in Europe. Power Financial Corporation is a member of the Power Corporation Group of Companies. To learn more, visit www.powerfinancial.com.

SOURCE LEAGUE

Image with caption: "Industry giants endorse LEAGUE – a new digital health insurance platform - in $25M Series A raise (CNW Group/LEAGUE)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160614_C1242_PHOTO_EN_712473.jpg

LEAGUE Media Contact: Madeleine Stoesser, Herscu & Goldsilver, 416-230-2225 ext. 103, [email protected]; OMERS Ventures Media Contact: Nicole Kelly, 416-369-3727, [email protected]; Infinite Potential Technologies Media Contact: Andrea Poon, 519-514-3140; Real Ventures Media Contact: Janet Bannister, General Partner, Real Ventures, 416-419-1222; BDC IT Venture Fund Media Contact: Robert Simon Managing Partner, IT Venture Fund, Associé directeur, Fonds TI, Business Development Bank of Canada, Banque de développement du Canada, 415-509-3001; RBC Media Contact: Paul French, 416-974-3718, [email protected]; Manulife Media Contact: Beth McGoldrick, 617-663-4751, [email protected]; Power Financial Corporation Media Contact: Mr. Stéphane Lemay, Vice-President, General Counsel and Secretary, 514-286-7400